Marina Koshetz

The blonde daughter of opera diva Nina Koshetz and artist Alexander von Schubert, Marina Koshetz came to the United States as a teenager and later appeared in small roles in such 1930s films as Little Women (1933), All the King's Horses (1935), and Millions in the Air (1935), billing herself Marina Schubert. Encouraged by Nina Koshetz, Schubert made her professional debut with the San Francisco Opera as Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, the very same role in which her mother had made her debut back in 1913. The younger Koshetz went on to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and in 1945 enjoyed great success at the Hollywood Bowl. Remaining in Los Angeles, she performed in Carmen and Die Fledermaus and even appeared opposite Pinky Lee in a production of Rio Rita at Los Angeles' Greek Theatre. In between her work on the opera stages, Koshetz sang in films ranging from On the Riviera (1951), with Danny Kaye, and The Singing Nun (1966) to The Great Caruso (1951), in which she beat a novice Caruso (Mario Lanza) in a singing competition. Last seen on screen in the 1967 comedy The Busy Body and long retired from performing, Koshetz had just completed a biography of Nina Koshetz and a screenplay dealing with her mother's secret romance with family friend Sergei Rachmaninoff when she died at the age of 88.